The "blue wave" that swept Mainland races during the midterm election came for Hawai‘i as well, with four out of 10 Republican state representatives losing their seats.
The final vote counts the state Office of Elections released on Wednesday morning revealed that only three incumbent House Republicans who were up for re-election this year were able to keep their seats.
Diamond Garcia, who represents portions of ‘Ewa and Kapolei, narrowly beat Democratic challenger Anthony Paris by only 72 votes — fewer than the number of blank votes cast for that race. Wai‘anae Rep. Chris Muraoka defeated Democrat challenger Kalehua Kaopua by some 300 votes, and ‘Ewa Beach Rep. Julie Reyes-Oda barely eked out a win over Democrat Rose Martinez by 16 votes.
Meanwhile, representatives Garner Shimizu (Fort Shafter), Elle Cochran (Kahakuloa) and Joe Gedeon (Portlock), lost their respective elections to Democrats — in Cochran's case, she came in distant third behind second-place Democrat Sne Patel and the victorious Green Party candidate Pa‘ele Kiakona.
And Royal Kunia Rep. Elijah Pierick did not run for reelection in his House district, but lost his bid for the Senate seat previously held by Democrat Henry Aquino, leaving his House seat to be won by Democrat Corey Rosenlee.
"The 'bluenami' isn't people changing sides and voting Democrat," Garcia told Aloha State Daily. "It's Republicans not turning out."
The Office of Elections reported that about 42% of all registered voters submitted ballots in the general election, down from the 48% turnout in the previous midterms.
Despite the losses Republicans took in Hawai‘i, Garcia, who is the Republican caucus' Minority Floor Leader in the House, took a positive view. In the face of Republican losses throughout the Mainland, the party's losses on Hawai‘i aren't that bad, he said.
"We're back down to the numbers we had in 2024," Garcia said. "It could have been worse and it has been worse."
Nonetheless, Garcia said the party needs to take the election as an opportunity to focus its messaging on issues that matter to voters, particularly the affordability crisis.
Muraoka agreed, telling ASD that Republicans need to start demonstrating results to voters in order to claw back ground in the state.
"It's high school politics, we need this system of checks and balances to keep one party from becoming too powerful," Muraoka said. "We want as much conservative voices in Hawai‘i as we can get."
Garcia said the dominance of a single party within Hawai‘i should build the desire for people to hear alternative voices in politics. But, he added, "Republicans are good at policy and bad at messaging. And Democrats are bad at policy and good at messaging."
Meanwhile, Kapolei Rep. Kanani Souza held onto her seat, facing no Democrat challengers, but fellow Republican Sheila Medeiros. The race between the two in the primary election was narrow enough to force a do-over in the general, and led to a Supreme Court case earlier this year.
On the Senate side of the race, only one Republican seat was up for grabs: Republican Bob McDermott claimed the ‘Ewa Beach seat currently held by outgoing Republican Kurt Fevella, defeating his Democrat opponent by about 400 votes.
But Kāne‘ohe Sen. Brenton Awa took a loss nonetheless, losing his bid for U.S. Representative to incumbent Jill Tokuda.
"It's a big relief off my shoulders," Awa told ASD, saying he wants to get back to work for the remaining two years of his Senate term.
But Awa said his race proved that "it doesn't matter whose name is on the ballot," only their party affiliation. He said Republicans need to figure out how to "get beyond the triggers" that cause voters to focus on labels instead of the core issues.
Awa said he encountered a man who said he would have voted for Awa but didn't because Donald Trump remains president, which Awa said shows that the "big issues" don't resonate with voters so much as the divide between red and blue.
But Awa also hinted that he might leave that divide behind as well. After his Senate term is up, he told ASD he may run for Honolulu Mayor, a non-partisan race.
"I may leave the Republicans, we'll see," Awa said, although he added that he wouldn't join the Democrats either. "The divide is why we're conquered."
ASD reached out to Tokuda for additional comment.
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